THE refusal by Punjab and Sindh to take imported wheat is less about concerns over grain quality and more about the unfinished transition from a state-dominated procurement system to a liberalised wheat market. Pakistan’s two largest wheat-consuming provinces prefer to draw on existing federal stocks than accept lower quality imported grain. The imports, in fact, are the outcome of the very policy transition that left a gap in domestic procurement. With the state-led system scaled back without a proper replacement........

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